The first big day for this movement was Tax Day, April 15. And organizers had a gimmick. They asked people to send a tea bag to the Oval Office. One of the exhortations was “Tea Bag the Fools in D.C.” A protester was spotted with a sign saying, “Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You.” So, conservatives started it: started with this terminology. But others ran with it and ran with it.

For the record, The National Review is as right-wing and teabagger as it gets. And Neil Cavuto is, well, Neil Cavuto.

I'll readily admit what we call them is less important than who they are. But I find their taking offense (and Frankie's defense) pretty amusing, given the vigor with which they spew the falsehoods they've ingested from Fox "news" without even bothering to chew. So, until I hear a single self-identified follower of the tea party movement 1) indicate knowledge of any subject on which s/he rants that's more than an inch deep and 2) propose a solution to that problem that is rooted in practicality (as opposed to this sort of crapulence), I think I'll just keep using the term. Somehow, it seems perfect: an ongoing representation of shooting off one's mouth first and thinking later.

7 comments:

It's still like sayin "Nigger", which interestingly enough, originated from the Spanish Word for "Black". And just because Niggers say "Nigger" alot doesn't mean it's OK for a non-Nigger to say "Nigger" unless you really like spending time in an ICU with a Closed Head Injury.Well its not exactly the same...it takes Guts(or lack of brains) to actually call a Nigger a Nigger in real life, while calling someone a "Teabagger" online is just sort of pathetic.Remember that bit in "Kentucky Fried Movie" where the Professional Daredevil performed his most Death Defying feat???

Yelling "NIGGERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" in front of abunch of niggers shooting dice...

Actually, Frankie, it's from the Latin, like most Spanish words... It's okay. I'm older than you.

And I think there's a big historical difference, not just because the teabaggers qua teabagger have only been around about five minutes. The term "negro" and its permutations were not begun by the referrees thereto.

And, if I may add: the word "nigger" began as a pejorative and only later was co-opted by blacks to, as has been said, defuse the term and make it their own.

"Teabagger," in the current political use, was erected by the teabaggers themselves, thrust in and out of the political conversation, dipped into the mouths of all who'd speak it. So I have no sympathy for those who are bawling about it now.

Thanks for providing an identifier, Blue. Feel free to comment as often as you want. It's appropriate that, on a post about teabaggers, all you could come up with was the sort of stuff they put on their signs (I admit you spell well, though.) Plenty of rage over the spending. No solutions. No recognition of the reasons for the solutions Obama chose. And, of course, no relevance to the post itself.

It's an uncertain world. It's nice to be able to count on some things, and you don't disappoint.

Blue: my apologies, I was wrong. You shouldn't feel free to comment here whenever you want. That (unpublished) one was the sort of "neener neener" stuff that passes for thought among teabaggers and most of the negative commenters here. For an example of the sort of right-sided comments that past muster around here, check out Precordial Thump. His links are to useful and thought-provoking sites. He often recognizes the point I was trying to make, and addresses it thoughtfully. He doesn't (usually) repeat stupid talking points straight off Fox "news."

Frankie, of course, is in a separate category, for which I really have no explanation other than he's been a long-time customer, starting on Surgeonblog; and he's so predictably ridiculous, frequently with humor however perverted, that I let it pass; sort of as a signifier for all the rest of you.

So. Try again. I'm very open to engaging conversation. But I'm warning you, since you seem never to have tried it: it's harder than stupid is.

For The Sake of My Sanity

Some will know me from my other blog, "Surgeonsblog." Of late I've given over to frothing at the mouth as the world descends into stupidity, and our politics and our citizens seem, in numbers enough to be meaningful, unable to see it. So for now I'm leaving surgery writing behind, if for no other reason than to defuse and diffuse my unrelenting sense of doom, and with no expectation of making a difference. These are things that, to me, are obvious. Except that, apparently, they aren't.

RWS™

RWS™: For those who drop by here in the middle, and wonder what it means: it's my shorthand for Right Wing Screamers, which includes such a long list it's tiresome to type it. (I distinguish these blowhards from thoughtful conservatives, of whom I sort of take it on faith that there must still be some.) You know who I mean: Palin, Beck, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Breitbart (RIP), Malkin, Savage, Levin, Ingraham, Doocey (more of a drooler than a screamer), Hewitt, Goldberg, Gingrich, Kristol, Scarborough (+/-), Bachmann, Inhofe, Bond, Broun, Boehner, Kelley, Santorum, Cain. To name but a few. Behold them in their unrepentant disregard for reality: the RWS™

My Better Self

Have A Look At My Book

ReadWave

About Me

I'm a mostly retired general surgeon. With my surgical blog, my intention is to inform, entertain, and possibly educate the reader about surgery, and about the life and loves of a surgeon: this one, anyway. Don't know what I'm thinking, doing a political blog, too.
In an amazing coincidence, I've also written a book, "Cutting Remarks; Insights and Recollections of a Surgeon." It's about my surgical training in San Francisco in the 1970s, aimed at the lay reader with the goal of entertaining with good stories, informing with understandable details of surgical anatomy, procedures, and diseases. Knowing you, I bet you'd enjoy it. In fact, if you like Surgeonsblog, you'll absolutely love the book!